Bill Jones: Looking at memorial paddle outs

It seems like I have been to a lot of memorial paddle outs in the past five years for surfers and water people who have passed on to the next water world.

A paddle out is basically that. Friends gather with surfboards, kayaks and even outrigger canoes to a spot beyond the wave line and break. You form a circle, hold hands and talk about the person. Ashes may be scattered and flowered leis left in the water as the group drops hands and splashes water to the heavens.

I have scattered the ashes of several people in the water of Monterey and Santa Cruz (yes beyond the limit designated by the state) and send basalt urns with ashes to dissolve over a period of time to the bottom of several selected locations. I have also deposited vials of partial ashes for several veterans who passed on, but were surfers.

Monterey local surf legend, Pete Davi, had over 100 people in the water at Lovers Point to help send him off several years ago. The paddle out for Santa Cruz surf icon Jay Moriarity more than a decade ago had many hundreds of people gathered at Pleasure Point. The recent movie "Chasing Mavericks" recreated this paddle out with several hundred people as well.

There is a poem by William Randolph Hearst (yes, that one) who penned "Song of the River," which is very apropos in a paddle out memorial.

"The snow melts on the mountain

And the water runs down to the spring,

And the spring in a turbulent fountain,

With a song of youth to sing,

Runs down to the riotous river,

And the river flows on to the sea,

And the water again

Goes back in rain

To the hills where it used to be.

And I wonder if,

Life's deep mystery

Isn't much like the rain and the snow

Returning through all eternity

To the places it used to know.

For life was born on the lofty heights

And flows in a laughing stream

To the river below

Whose onward flow

Ends in a peaceful dream.

And so at last,

When our life has passed

And the river has run its course,

It again goes back,

O'er the selfsame track,

To the mountain which was its source.

So why prize life

Or why fear death,

Or dread what is to be?

The river ran its allotted span

Till it reached the silent sea.

Then the water harked back to the mountaintop

To begin its course once more.

So we shall run the course begun

Till we reach the silent shore,

Then revisit earth in a pure rebirth

From the heart of the virgin snow.

So don't ask why we live or die,

Or wither, or when we go,

Or wonder about the mysteries

That only God may know."

Joe Rico, a surfer who frequented Santa Cruz, had a wonderful paddle out near Cowell Beach where stories were told, leis placed in the water and a rendition of the song "Surfer Joe" was sung to this man who left the surf scene too soon.

Dan Fogelberg wrote a great song called the "River of Souls." The full lyrics can be found online and it is a beautiful song and has many words that are fitting for a memorial water paddle out. I have just used the last few lines of the song

"To every man the mystery

Sings a different song

He fills his page of history

Dreams his dreams

And is gone

There are no names

That fit these faces

There are no lines that can define

These ancient spaces

The spirits dance

Across the ages

And melt into a river of souls

(Refrain in Spanish)

Lo que es mio? (What is mine?)

Lo que es de Dios? (What is God's?)

Lo que es del rio? (What is the river's?)

Melt into a river of souls."

We will all meet at the green flash of the setting sun.

Pau.

Bill Jones is a surfer, diver, kayaker and stand-up paddle instructor who lives in Pacific Grove. He can be reached at bjones_surf@yahoo.com.